The great Sudd swamp is the major site for waterbuck and the lechwes, including these kob. Its function as a barrier means it has preserved vast populations of gazelle too. Read more in the Atlas of Untamed Places and you can win a copy if you read down! Kobus kob image; Credit: Daryona on Wikipedia (CC)

Published on 28th September, the Atlas of Untamed Places gives us an unparalleled view of very different parts of the planet. The author, Chris Fitch has been lucky enough (some would say!) to see locations the rest of us could never manage to get to. Then he has gone on to visit all of the extraordinary spots in the book. These are the worlds least-visited, most unusual, wildest and feral places. Youve guessed that the author works for a journal thats Geographical, but he was also brought up in the Solomon Islands which must also be a good start. The book is published by Aurum Press, ISBN number: 978-1-78131-677-1.

The chapters of the book vary from the well-known Okavango Delta or Lake Maracaibo to the Miracle Sea Road that appears at Modo in Korea, under the section called Weird Worlds. The other sections have names such as Extreme Environments and Untouched Lands. This even leaves room for a section containing Chernobyl but also various isolated or wilderness areas such as Socotra that few of us have ever heard of.

For the armchair traveller who can never get to where they want, this almost helps in that nobody can penetrate to all of these places (except Chris.) However, if you are thinking of planning travel, this book would be ideal for helping the journey along, to include some of the most unique situations on earth. While only one destination might be possible to visit, we are immensely fortunate to have cheaper air travel at the moment, so you would find it possible to include it on your trip. I am certain that many will visit these locations, following publications such as this.

Chris Fitch even manages to achieve topicality in the book, where he mentions the tragic ongoing situation in the Bialowieza Forest. Poland and Ukraine share this primary forest area as the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park joins up to the east. How the Polish government will react to their illegal logging now depends on how serious the EU are in retaining this biodiverse vestige of an ancient Europe before humans arrived on the scene.

Both Europe and North America are well-covered (look up the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Refuge near Denver,) for those who might want to check out more local beauties, but the essence of the atlas is to present us with outlandish places in the nicest sense of the word. One of the least visited places on earth was found on Google Earth, so we all have a chance of armchair discovery. The Mount Mabu rainforest is now recognised as the largest in southern Africa!

Finishing off in Africa, there is the Sudd swamp, giving its name to 2 nations and forming a formidable barrier both in Arabic and to a Roman legion. If you would like a prize from Aurum Press, simply tell us in which country the swamp mainly lies. In the book, it is an Untouched Land, but you can get to touch the book if you answer that question. Contact us with the answer if you can find our Facebook page!

Many thanks to the author and publishers worldwide. They have yet another bombshell coming up next month with Alastair Bonnetts New Views. This is a remarkable book of maps you have never seen before. Human and animal maps are alongside political and environmental displays that will shock, horrify and amuse .

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